Quotable Thursday #31

"A career is wonderful, but you can't curl up with it on a cold night." - Marilyn Monroe

Guest Post VII

The third and final installment of my Planes, Trains and Automobiles is up on Always Standing today.

Guest Post VI

Part 2 of Planes Train and Automobiles is up on Always Standing.

Haiku #9 - Chris Gone

Chris went far away

She is on a whirlwind trip
She hates haiku poems

Pretty Disappointed

If you read Chris' blog, Always Standing, then you will have heard about the neat things some of her friends and co-workers did for her big trip (like hat photos, photo pins and finger puppets). I mention this because I am pretty disappointed in myself for not doing something. I thought about it and came up with a few ideas, but thought that Chris wouldn't have room for the things in her luggage or time to deal with them. I don't know why I came to these conclusions as it is a very Chris thing to do (games, etc for her trip). I have been working on a few things for later on when she returns, but nothing for her current 'travelling' status. Though I did work extra hard and wrote something like 17 guest writer posts for her blog.
Anyway, props to those that did what I apparently could not and made her trip a little more friend-filled, they are all such great ideas.

Guest Post V

My fifth guest spot over on Always Standing is the beginning of a three-post series called Planes, Trains and Automobiles. The posts are predominantly about travel in the three forms and memorable trips I have taken using each. Check it out. :)

Stony Swamp

 

 

 

 

I went for a walk today along one of the Stony Swamp Trails called Lime Kiln. It was during this walk that I remember why I usually only go in the Spring and Fall – bugs. There were so many mosquitoes and deer/black flies buzzing around it was ridiculous. As a result, I am now covered in bug bites and am feeling very itchy. It is a very nice trail though.
“The Flood Lime Kiln is one of the few remaining examples of a 19th-century industrial lime kiln in Canada. Lime was an important building and household chemical used to make mortar, fertilizer, whitewash, plaster and many other products. Francis Flood built this kiln in the late 1800s on a miniature escarpment of exposed limestone bedrock known as the Hazeldean Fault. Most lime producers went out of business in the early 1900s as new larger industrial kilns  were constructed and Portland cement was introduced from Europe. The Flood ceased operations in 1906, and the site was abandoned and fell into disrepair. The ruins of the kiln were rediscovered and its significance realized in the 1970s. The site was restored in 1999.” From one of the plaques at the Lime Kiln Trail.
I had tried to get to the Lime Kiln last year but ended up at Chipmunk and/or Beaver trail every time I ventured out that way. You see as I drive down Moodie Drive to get to the parking lots, I always get excited and end up turning into one of the first ones and walking along that trail. Parking lot 10 is the entrance to the Lime Kiln trail and is situated a little bit down the road, past parking lots 8 and 9 where you gain access to Chipmunk/Beaver and Jack Pine trail, respectively. This time I worked very hard on driving past these lots and toward lot 10.
Despite the bugs, I managed to get some nice shots of the ruins and of a happy, little frog (okay, terrified, fairly large frog) that sat for me for quite some time.

Way Back Whenesday: Pink Panther

During the summers when I was younger, my mom would make me a pita sandwich with lettuce, cheese and alfalfa sprouts and I would watch the Pink Panther cartoon show with my delicious lunch. Those are good memories.

Guest Post IV

“Vegas Baby” is going up on Always Standing today. My fourth guest post is about a future trip Dave and I intend on taking to Las Vegas.

Guest Post III

My third guest post entitled “Top Ten” is going up on Always Standing today. This one is a review of the Top Ten travel books. Check it out.

RIKIKI

The above photo shows just how small my new portable external hard drive is. And, with the addition of the tiny monkey (I think it might be a spider monkey) it looks even more adorable than it does normally.
I got the 500GB version to hold my entire collection of photos and then some. I currently have backed up all the photos on my laptop as well as the music and intend on getting the new hard drive connected to the old one to get the rest of my photos from there as well.
You may be asking, if I had an external hard drive already, why did I need to buy this one? The answer to that is simple, ease of accessibility. The old hard drive needs to be plugged in to operate which means that I rarely use it. My laptop moves around the house on a regular basis and having to get close enough to a plug to allow the external to be plugged in is a huge hassle.

Guest Post II

My second guest post over on Always Standing is entitled “Over the Years” and is a photo collection of Chris over the last 7 years.

New Old Roommate

When Justin moved back home last year it left a void in my and Dave’s social life. He visited us a couple times since then and we of course stayed in touch via Facebook, email and Skype but it hasn’t really been the same.
I am happy to announce that he recently found a job here in Ottawa and has since moved in with us until he finds his own place. It is really great having him back in Ottawa and even better to have him so close by. There have been lots of games played and reminiscing done – good times had be all.
Today also happens to be Justin’s birthday – Happy Birthday Justain.

Guest Post I

While she is away Chris has asked for guest posts over on Always Standing. Today marks the first of my guest posts entitled, “Nothing to Say”. The post is about why I chose to start each of my blogs and  blogging in general.

Sims Expanded

Dave got me a gift about a week ago – the latest expansions for the Sims 3.  I have not gotten any of the previous expansions for this game as they really didn’t interest me, but when I started playing Sims 3 again, the expansion definitely peaked my interest.In it you are granted new professions for your people. So far I have tackled stylist, interior designer and self-employed artists. I tried to get my sim to be a tattoo artist but the tattoo chair broke (by this I mean it is glitched somehow) and she was unable to give anyone tattoos or even get the tattooing skill.
I haven’t gotten the hang of it just yet – the professions are trickier than the normal careers and a fair bit more time consuming as well. But I am slowly getting it and my sims are starting to thrive in their new, expanding world.

Nico and Alison

On July 9, 2010, between 5:00 and 5:30pm Nicolas (Nico) Strang married Alison Campbell. As it was mentioned during the toasts last night, the two had a sort of movie-plot love. They met on when they were both travelling (separately) to Africa and despite living on different continents, they made it work. They lived in England for a period of time, and have since moved here to Canada to make a home together.
Dave and I were very honoured to be invited to their wedding as it was a small wedding in terms of guests, friends and family only. Nico even mentioned us in his speech, which was unexpected, though very thoughtful and nice.
The wedding was beautiful, the food served was delicious and all the guests were so nice. Alison looked like a princess in her dress and you could tell that both the bride and the groom were very happy to be starting their new life together. Congratulations to them both.

Disney Geography

Every month National Geographic sends me an email with highlights of their articles and images. I usually check them out but rarely post about them. Well this time they had images of Disney's more famous attractions next to the real-life locations they are based on. For example, the real-life Matterhorn and the Disney roller coaster ride.

"Which is the real Matterhorn? Robbed of scale, it's difficult to tell. Disneyland's roller coaster ride is built at 1/100th scale of the Matterhorn peak in the Pennine Alps between Switzerland and Italy. The 4,478 metre (14,692 foot) Matterhorn is on the left. the 45 metre (147 foot) Matterhorn is on the right." To check out the whole article (and the remaining images) go here.

Wish Come True Festival

A couple weekends ago Dave and I were in Toronto for a conference but the point of this post is not our conference but rather the Wish Come True Festival that was going on in Queens Park.
We were walking around Downtown Toronto on the Saturday night when we came across the festival. We weren’t quite sure what was going on at first as there were all these balloon creations and funny characters around the park. It took us a little while but we eventually found a sign full of information. Apparently the festival is part of the Luminato Festival and according to the website I cam across, “This year’s Luminato presents colourful totems, bounce houses and inflatable friends. Presented by FriendsWithYou, Queen’s Park transformed into an artistic wonderland. Characters led by the Rainbow King will be spread out around the park with messages of happiness. People of all-ages are invited to check out the spinning creatures, lounge areas and 12-metre high inflatable characters.”We enjoyed the scenery and watched children play with the inflatable objects. there was also a band playing on a main stage that we listened to for a while. And I of course took photos of the odd decorations.
(cartoon image from Luminato website. Other image from me.)

Quotable Thursday #30

“'To the complaint, 'There are no people in these photographs,' I respond, 'There are always two people: the photographer and the viewer.'” – Ansel Adams.

Animator vs. Animation

Another of Dave’s finds though this time it comes from DeviantArt (I therefore can’t embed it in my blog but rather have to post the link for you to go and see it). http://fc01.deviantart.com/fs13/f/2007/077/2/e/Animator_vs__Animation_by_alanbecker.swf

It is a flash animation of what would happen if your stick man came to life in flash. My description doesn’t do it justice, so go check it out.

Biking in the Rain

A couple weeks ago Dave and I participated in the Heart and Stroke Big Bike with work. It was pouring rain so we got absolutely soaked but we completed the ride in a decent time (despite the rain) and had a bunch of fun too. The above photo was taken by one of the volunteers working at the event and you can’t see many people in the team, but you can see me!!

Blog of Note (July): Hyperbole and a Half

I found Hyperbole and a Half through one someone’s Facebook. Essentially the author writes about her life but includes images created in paint to illustrate things. I find her to be so freaking funny and though the posts are pretty infrequent, they are well worth the wait. I think you should check it out, especially her posts about the alot.

A Busy Summer

Throughout most of the year, Dave and I spend our weekends and vast majority of our downtime in general, doing nothing. We laze about the house playing video games and ever so slowly getting our chores done. This summer, this has not been the case. We have had trips planned and outing with family and friends and unfortunately tons of work to do. The summer has been so busy that I bought a moleskine to be able to keep track of it all. We have also had to resort to booking time off. All this being said, the things we have had planned have been really fun and I am looking forward to the events coming up, but I am a hermit and enjoy my time around the house and when I do not get to do it that often, I start to get stressed and really worn out. We have a weekend off coming up so hopefully that will help me out as my stress levels are pretty high lately.

PIXELS

Dave found this on youtube quite some time ago. As I do with things like this, I emailed the link to myself and then forgot to post it. Anyway, I think it is not only really well done, but just a amazing idea to begin with.

Let’s Play Ball

Dave and I joined the baseball team at work called the DST Destroyers (the above photo is from our first game – it is a pretty bad one of me, but I am having to deal with it). So far we have been scheduled to play 4 games but two of them have been cancelled (due to a shortage of players). It has been a lot of fun and I have found that I am not that bad – well I can hit the ball at least when I am up to bat. I likely wouldn’t have such a good batting average if we weren’t pitching to our own team mates.

Quotable Thursday #29

“Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it.” – Gerard Bernard Shaw (1856-1950).

Only problem with this statement is that Canada actually is the best country.

Yay Canada!

Today is Canada’s 143rd Birthday.

Happy Birthday!